Apple blames revenue loss on China censoring video games

On Jan 29, 2019

Apple says it lost revenue due to China’s temporary ban on approving new video games last year. The financial hurt from the censorship of iOS mobile games was one of the many reasons Apple cited for its $4.8 billion revenue decline in Greater China during the 2018 holiday quarter, with the company generally pointing to the country’s economic slowdown.

“The App Store in China is a large business for us,” Apple’s financial chief, Luca Maestri, said during an earnings call today. “We believe the issue around approval of new game titles is temporary in nature but clearly it’s affecting our business right now.”

The video game ban does appear to be lifting, although titles are still getting approved at a slow pace and the criteria for which…